UK ministers say they
are concerned the move by “radical” settlers is
undermining efforts for peace in the region.

Conservative Foreign Office minister Baroness Anelay told the
Independent: “We are aware of the link between the Elad
[settler] group and the Israel Antiquities Authority. We are
concerned that this link has led to Israel Antiquities
Authority’s support of radical settler activities in and around
the Old City under the guise of tourism and protection of Jewish
history.

“Such actions not only aggravate mounting pressures in East
Jerusalem but serve to increase tension around the Temple
Mount/Haram al-Sharif and further complicate future attempts to
negotiate a political resolution.”

Baroness Anelay replaced Baroness Warsi as a Foreign Office
minister last year, after Lady Warsi quit the government in
protest of its “morally indefensible” policy on Gaza.

The Elad settler group is known for aggressively laying claim to
Palestinian areas. Israeli Elad and the Jewish National Fund
often work together to colonize Palestinian neighborhoods in East
Jerusalem and evict Palestinians. They are both registered
charitable organizations in the US.

In January last year, Reuters reported that Israeli settlers were
excavating in the West Bank in search of the first palace of King
David. The dig is aimed at turning the site into an
archaeological park, but Palestinians see the move as a grab for
land and influence.

In October last year, Jewish settlers working with Elad took over
25 apartments in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in occupied
East Jerusalem. This was the largest takeover of Palestinian
property in East Jerusalem in decades and has further increased
tensions in the city.

In one instance this month, a Palestinian woman and her children
living in an apartment building in Silwan were summoned to a
local police station. While they were away, settlers from Elad
moved in, removed the family’s belongings and took possession of
the building, Haaretz reports.

The building is close to the City of David national
archaeological park that Elad administers.

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and the
United Nations has repeatedly urged Israel to vacate occupied
Palestinian territory.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged this month
during the country’s general election there would be no
Palestinian state, although he later recanted his statement.